posted at 4:01 pm on October 22, 2014 by Allahpundit

An addendum to Ed’s post this morning. Per WaPo, it’s not just the forensic evidence that’s backing Wilson up.

[M]ore than a half-dozen unnamed black witnesses have provided testimony to a St. Louis County grand jury that supports Wilson’s account of events of Aug. 9, according to several people familiar with the investigation who spoke with The Washington Post.

Some of the physical evidence — including blood spatter analysis, shell casings and ballistics tests — also supports Wilson’s account of the shooting, the Post sources said, which cast Brown as an aggressor who threatened the officer’s life. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they are prohibited from publicly discussing the case…

Benjamin L. Crump, a lawyer for the Brown family, said Brown’s family and supporters will not be persuaded by the autopsy report or eyewitness statements that back Wilson’s account of the incident…

Exactly how high Brown’s hands were has been inconsistent in the accounts, and at least one witness said that after Brown was shot, he appeared to take a step toward Wilson. That witness said, however, Brown had his arms around his stomach before hitting the ground.

The Post doesn’t specify which details from Wilson’s account were supported by the witnesses (none of whom want to be named, of course, lest they face reprisals for being honest). Did they corroborate the fight in the front seat of the squad car when, Wilson claims, Brown grabbed his gun? The physical evidence supports that too: One forensic pathologist who reviewed the autopsy report noted that Brown’s hand wound wouldn’t have had gunpowder particulate in it unless his hand had been on or right next to Wilson’s gun. Two shell casings were also found in Wilson’s squad car, per the Post, supporting the fact that the gun was discharged twice inside the vehicle. Or did the witnesses corroborate the fatal shooting later, after Brown had moved away from the car and Wilson had gotten out? That’s what the case will turn on: If Wilson ends up being indicted, prosecutors will argue that, yes, Brown might have reached for Wilson’s gun but the subsequent shooting was unnecessary. Brown was already wounded; Wilson was shooting out of rage, not to repel a mortal threat.

Realistically, though, how likely is it that he’s going to be indicted at this point? Crump says he has seven witnesses who’ll say that Wilson gunned Brown down unjustifiably. Great, says the defense, we have seven witnesses who say the opposite plus a pile of forensic evidence that shows Brown, who’d just committed a robbery at the local convenience store, not only assaulted a police officer but attempted to seize his firearm. There’s little doubt, barring some bombshell evidence that the public doesn’t know about, that Wilson’s not going to be convicted. The question now is whether he’ll be charged. One theory for all the leaks lately is that law enforcement is trying to prepare the public for the fact that grand jury is unlikely to return an indictment, but I don’t know: Given what Crump said in the excerpt above plus protesters vowing that “it’s going to be a war” if Wilson isn’t charged, sounds like releasing the evidence early isn’t going to calm anyone down. On the contrary, it may be that this is being leaked because Wilson supporters fear that he’ll be unfairly indicted anyway for political reasons, even though there’s no probable cause to think he murdered Brown. That’s probably the outcome city leaders would prefer — indictment followed by acquittal so that they can say the system took the incident seriously enough to force Wilson to defend his actions in open court. Think that result would calm people down? Me neither.

One more odd detail from WaPo’s story: “The Post sources said the levels in Brown’s body may have been high enough to trigger hallucinations.” Er, okay, but isn’t the fact that Brown had just apparently committed a crime minutes before Wilson rolled up a more likely explanation for why he got aggressive? He had obvious reasons to fear police scrutiny at the time. Reefer madness seems like an odd theory of the case.

Comments

This fellow Noam is race baiting, hence no link to his video. I will say this Noam wishes we could all have a more honest conversation without personal attacks. Hey Noam, you are race baiting, screw you and your wantabe conversation.

Serious pot smokers experiment with additives in the pot, such as PCP.

You can be very disconnected from reality on these drugs, to the point your actions are like watching a first person video game. If you tend towards violence, that can come out with all societal safeties clicked ‘off’.
Hallucinations are common.

Tard on October 22, 2014 at 4:40 PM

Certainly he could have experienced hallucinations from stronger chemical drugs, but there hasn’t been any mention or evidence that Brown was high on PCP, or any drug other than marijuana. It’s irrelevant to even speculate on that.

As a once “serious pot smoker,” I don’t think a guy like Brown was having hallucinations from smoking pot, no matter how often he smoked it. He likely would have done what he did anyway. On the other hand, considering his criminal inclinations, I can see how pot might make him even more careless and indifferent in his conduct and with regard to any consequences of his choices.

Serious pot smokers experiment with additives in the pot, such as PCP.

You can be very disconnected from reality on these drugs, to the point your actions are like watching a first person video game. If you tend towards violence, that can come out with all societal safeties clicked ‘off’.
Hallucinations are common.

Tard on October 22, 2014 at 4:40 PM

Couple of things… 1) the blood toxicology results didn’t show PCP in his system so please stop adding falsehoods into an already heated discussion.. 2) though THC is an hallucingenic the actual cases in which an individual experiences what you might term reefer madness is about as prevalent as alcholics who commit suicide becasue of the depressing effects of the drink (and ONLY becasue of the depressing effects) …

That said, ALL drugs (legal or illegal) change the basic chemistry of the body so the fact that THC was found in his sytem isn’t a nothingburger…but to focus on this one piece of information is risking losing sight of the bigger picture in this case which to me is why aren’t the parents of this baby huey in angels garb being made to answer for their poor parenting that was the REAL reason why there child is now dead.

American blacks are the most pandered to, self-pitying, blame shifting, irresponsible and laziest people on Earth. While we can blame the race mongers (jackson and Sharpton) and the leftist politicians for feeding this problem, blacks who have bought into this crap and seek favors and advantages and continue to blame others for their problems are as much to blame.

sixchickensleft on October 22, 2014 at 5:01 PM

I know quite a few Africans who moved here from Ghana and Eritrea.
Without exception, they all just shake their heads and state that they cannot understand african-americans. Also, without exception, they all claim that they’re not considered real blacks in the US.

I think I either misread your post, or you’re misreading what’s being said. The point is that seven black witnesses ‘corroborate’ or actual give credence to the officer’s story. You seem to have interpreted this as the witness testimonies being in contradiction to the officer’s story… ?

I think I either misread your post, or you’re misreading what’s being said. The point is that seven black witnesses ‘corroborate’ or actual give credence to the officer’s story. You seem to have interpreted this as the witness testimonies being in contradiction to the officer’s story… ?

Midas on October 22, 2014 at 5:17 PM

I think 6chix refers to the statement from the Crum that they have 7 witnesses who claim that Brown was shot unjustifyibly

The fact that two casings were found in Wilson’s car showed that Brown had reached inside the car to try to grab the gun–otherwise why would Wilson have shot the gun twice inside the car? Once Wilson had clear possession of his gun, he knew Brown was a threat to him, and had every reason to arrest Brown.

Unless Brown had surrendered himself and allowed Wilson to handcuff him, Brown remained a threat as long as his hands were free.

If Brown later charged Wilson, Wilson would be justified in believing Brown wanted to take his gun, and could legitimately shoot Brown in self-defense.

Also, without exception, they all claim that they’re not considered real blacks in the US.

NapaConservative on October 22, 2014 at 5:14 PM

Well, American type “African-Americans” have never been to Africa, as have none of their relatives for multiple generations, and only have a marginal genetic link to the people in Africa.
So it’s interesting, or perhaps the better word is telling, that they don’t want to be associated with real “Africans” – who move here and become real no BS “African-Americans”. Real “African-Americans”, who actually came here from Africa, kind of cut into the credibility of American blacks calling themselves “African-American”.

I guess that’s possible but why? Most people outside of the bubble want the law to be enforced, we have no personal interest in Officer Wilson or Mr. Brown, only justice. So why leak slowly to us? Stinging comments on blogs?

Know who I really feel sorry for? Benjamin Crump, Esq. Cause there is no chickenshift Homeowners Association to shake down for the easy cash, only the City of Ferguson, MO. And it’s looking bad for the Crump team. After they put so much time and energy into creating a specific set of “facts.”

Pot is an hallucinogen. Not always, but sometimes. I thought everyone knew that.

LashRambo on October 22, 2014 at 5:15 PM

well to be fair it also causes short term memory loss …so in fact I’m sure at one point in his/her life they did know that.

dentarthurdent on October 22, 2014 at 5:25 PM

I couldn’t agree more, I worked for several years at a restaurant that employed many young men from Senegal, and I can tell you the diffrence between those folks and African-Americans is as blatant as the diffrence between America and Liberia …

The information is being intentionally leaked to soften the blow when the cop isn’t charged.
This is obvious and done many times in cases like this as a matter of course.

Imagine if they kept clam and then suddenly announced ‘No charges!’. Insane Rioting, right?

Now compare that to being told slowly, over weeks, with leaked facts (none of which are required to be complete or even accurate since they are Unofficial Leaks). The final announcement becomes anticlimactic, people knew it was coming, even if it pisses them off.

How many of them are willing to do it under oath at risk of committing perjury?

The lawyer of one of these witnesses, Dorian Johnson, aka Brown’s accomplice, has already admitted Dorian lied to the media. Seems to be par for the course for him, seeing as how he had a warrant out for him for lying to police on a separate issue.

In other words these 7 witnesses DON’T back Darren Wilson’s version of events.

Keep telling yourself that. You know what else backs his version? The forensic evidence. The position of the expelled bullet casings pretty much prove Brown was advancing and Wilson was retreating. Oops.

Remember, Wilson *did not know* that Brown was suspected in a robbery, meaning that he had no reason to accost them in the middle of the street.

libfreeordie

Actually, he did. But don’t let me ruin your pathetic meme, lol. And btw, walking down the middle of the street in traffic is illegal, and is a reason for being “accosted”, moron. But keep humping that chicken of ignorance. It will make your coming tear drops all the more delicious.

Get prepared to come up with more excuses, loser. Word is video/audio of the event is coming out soon.

Remember when Brown having his hands up in surrender and being shot anyway was proof that it was racially motivated? And now that forensic science has refuted that, the position of Brown’s hands is now “immaterial” according to our resident leftist toolbag?

Also remember when Brown was shot in the back multiple times, while fleeing, which prompted him to turn around and put his hands up? But again forensic science destroyed that as well.

I find it interesting that Brown’s defenders here seize on the most unremarkable of facts (Wilson had no right to accost Brown while walking in the street!) as if the entire case will rest on it. Usually, they do it because, well, they got nothing else.

Another example: “nobody proved that Wilson did not pull Brown into the car!” Big deal. Brown’s blood was on the gun and Wilson’s uniform. It really does not matter how Brown got into the car, does it? He damn sure got shot while there. But then again, if you got nuthin, you got nuthin.

The reality is that the segment of the population outraged at present will not be appeased by anything less then a conviction and the death of Officer Wilson. The hucksters and race baiters like Mr. Crump don’t care about the truth or justice, just about revenge.

JKotthoff on October 22, 2014 at 4:17 PM

I disagree. People like this would not be appeased even if Wilson were hanged in the public square. Punishing, even executing, a man like Wilson would only egg people like this to even greater blood lust. They are thugs.

That’s what the case will turn on: If Wilson ends up being indicted, prosecutors will argue that, yes, Brown might have reached for Wilson’s gun but the subsequent shooting was unnecessary. Brown was already wounded; Wilson was shooting out of rage, not to repel a mortal threat.

IIRC, law enforcement officers are trained to keep shooting until the target goes down once they start shooting.

So unless he shot Brown when he was already down, he was doing what he was trained to do.

Do we really care if Ferguson burns itself down? I don’t. They can happily have at it, but do NOT expect the taxpayer to rebuild their tacky little town. I can’t think of any better karma than to have to spend the upcoming winter living in a refrigerator box.